Boon
Boon (natively bön) is a language spoken in the island nation of Boon, home to around 6,000,000 people. Boon is made up of smaller words, which can be attached using apostrophes and colons. Classification and Dialects Dialects mainly differ in use of filler words (words which contain no meaning without contex, though gain meaning though tone and context) Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Stress is put only once on each root and affix. Stress is used in the following situations #The beginning syllable of a root #The first syllable of an affix if it follows directly after a colon (:) or semi-colon (;), or is the first affix of the word #The last syllable of an affix if it does not follow directly after a colon (:) or semi-colon (;) nor is the first affix of the word Stress is never used in prepositions, including the word "tö" Stress is used by lengthening the time of the syllable as well as increasing in tone slightly. In stressed syllables, either a vowel or consonant is held out longer than usual. The letters which have the lowest stress degree are the ones held out longer unless there is a double or triple letter used (Note: triple letters are often just written as a capital letter, or as two capital letters if at the beginning of the sentence), in which case, that becomes held out. Stress degrees: # J's, Č's, H's (Always Stressed) # Â's, Ê's, Î's, Ô's,Õ's, and Û's # P's, B's, T's, D's, K's, G's # Ä's, Å's, Ë's, Œ's, O's # N's, M's # C's, Q's # Ç's, F's, ∏'s, S's, V's, X's, Y's, Z's # Æ's, E's, Ö's, Ø's, U's (not A's), Ü's, I's, Ï's # L's, R's, W's # A's, Ñ's (Never stressed, unless together) Syllables that are not stressed are spoken quickly, and double letters are not held out long. Triple letters are still held out long. The tone to use on a stressed syllable is determined by whether the next syllable in the word is stressed or not. If the next syllable is stressed, "regular" tone is used, by slightly increasing pitch, and then falling. If the next syllable is not stressed, "secondary" tone is used, by increasing the pitch more strongly, and then quickly fluctuating between a lower and higher pitch. Writing System Grammar Nouns Affixes are usually added before a root by becoming attached and adding an apostrophe (') after each affix. Affixes added after a root are added by attaching a semi-colon (;).Nouns can be made into compound words by connecting multiple nouns together with a colon (:). When a compound word is created, affixes before the root are not moved (ex. höp'hôrpo + con'jävo -> höp'hôrpo:con'jävo.) Affixes that come after a root cannot occur in the middle of compound words, and must be removed or moved to the end of the word. An affix for number is optional, being either "on" for singular or "a" for plural which are both added after the root. An affix for definite (en), or demonstrative (this: "es" that: "et") can also be added after the root. A verb can be turned into a noun by adding the affix "ïq" after a verb and the affix "du" at the beginning of the verb. A verb turned into a noun implies you are talking about what is commonly the object of this verb, though this is up to interpretation, for example, if the verb föd (to eat) was turned into a noun, it would become "du'föd:iq" which would usually imply the noun was food, because food is usually the object in the verb föd (to eat.) Adjectives can be added to a noun by adding affixes in front of the noun, and adjectives can be made into "compound adjectives" by combining them to each other using a colon (:) if the first adjective is describing the adjective which is directly describing the noun, for example: nä= dark, and råju= orange. To say the word for dark orange (which would just be called brown in English) the compound adjective "nä:råju" must be formed, because the word nä is not describing the person, but instead is describing the adjective. Every adjective has two forms, one ending in "bo" or "po" and the other ending in "bi" or "pi." Bo and po represent "absolute" adjectives, while bi and pi represent "relative" adjective. In compound adjectives, only the last adjective needs the bo, po, bi, or pi endings, though the endings can be added on the previous endings as well. Often, a relative adjective means that the object being described is higher than average, while an absolute adjective means that the object being described simply has the quality, though not necessarily more than others, for example: "poZ di tö nä:råjubo'siê" would mean "you have brown eyes" while "poZ di tö nä:råjubi'siê" would mean "you have especially brown eyes", this can be taken even further, as to say "poZ di tö näpi:råjubi'siê" meaning "you have especailly dark brown eyes." Certain qualities can have completely different meanings in their relative and absolute forms, such as the word "mækbo" which means "most" while "mækbi" means "more". Some words can not be used in either the relative or absolute form, such as the word "ôy" which means smart. Ôy can only be used relatively, because it is seen as there is infinite knowledge, and thus, on an absolute scale, we know 0% of knowledge and could not be smart on an absolute scale. In informal speech, words like ôy often do not gain the endings at all. Verbs Affixes can be added before a root by becoming attached an apostrophe (") after each affix. Affixes can be added after a root as a particle or as a modal verb. Tenses are optional, and are affixes added directly before the root (present: "næ", past: dæ, future: læ".) If a perfect tense is used, a "hæ" affix is added before the other tense affix. Tenses work slightly differently than most languages, tenses give the idea of before (past), at/during (present), and after (future), so if a tense is added after another time has been given, it is assumed that the tense is describing when the event happened relative to the previously given time. A noun can be turned into a verb by adding the affix "iz" after a noun and the affix "du" at the beginning of the noun. A noun turned into a verb implies you are doing what would commonly be done with the noun, though this is up to interpretation. For example, if the noun bunænu (banana) was turned into a verb, it would become "du'bunænu:iz" which would usulally imply you were eating a banana, though in certain situations could imply you were preparing food with bananas, or even planting bananas. Adverbs can be added to a verb by adding affixes in front of the verb, and adverbs can be joined together to form "compound:adverbs" by combining them to each other using a colon(:) if the first adjective is describing the adjective which is directly describing the noun, for example: bit = a bit/ fairly, and kik = quickly. To say the word for fairly quickly the compound adverb "bit:kik" must be formed, because the word bit is not describing the verb, but instead is describing the adverb. Adverbs follow the same rules for relative and absolute as adjectives used. Oftentimes however, adjectives in the relative from can express that the subject proformed the skill to a higher degree of the adverb than usual, for example "kik'høp min" would most likely be interpreted as "I danced faster than I usually do" Syntax Sentences are constructed in VSO order, with the word "tö" coming between the subject and the object. If the verb is relating to another verb, the second verb becomes the object, and the object is then added after the second verb. The word "tö" becomes after both the subject and the second verb, for example "Næ'vïl mi tö föd tö du'föd:iq" (I want to eat food.) Every sentence must have an object, so if there is not an object involved in a sentence, a "n" is added onto the end of the subject, and the tö is removed to indicate you did the action to yourself, for example, "høp min" literally means "I dance myself." Though it is grammacly correct to use the syntax of "høp mi tö mi," it would be very uncommon to hear, and would mainly only be used to draw attention to the fact the you were preforming the verb to yourself, or for clarification. Lexicon Possession is added by adding a "ïz" affix. Prepositions Or absolute is used when the specific option is not needed (ex. Do you like to run or walk? -Yes) Or reletive is used when the specific option is needed (ex. Are you climbing up the stairs or down the stairs? -I am climbing up the stairs) Subjects and Objects Example text Category:Languages